Aunt Bessie Invites (An Isle of Man Cozy Mystery Book 9) Read Online Free PDF

the only one
who will ever ask her that question, after all.”
    Bessie smiled.   “You could always ask her at our big
Thanksgiving feast,” she suggested.
    “I won’t have the ring by then,” Hugh
replied.   “I love my job, but sometimes
I do wish it paid a bit better.”
    Hugh’s mobile phone rang, interrupting the
chat.   He frowned as he turned away
from Bessie to answer it.   She
couldn’t hear anything from his end except monosyllables.   After a moment he disconnected and
turned back to the women.
    “The inspector should be here in a minute,”
he said.   “Then we’ll see where we
go from there.”
    A moment later a large lorry rumbled down
the road.   Hugh had a word with the
driver, who then drove well past the barn and parked on the side of the
road.   He handed the keys to the
vehicle to Fenella and then headed back up the road on foot.   He was just out of site when a plain
black car rolled into view.   Bessie
watched as the driver parked behind Hugh.   The passenger door opened, but the person who climbed out was a stranger
to Bessie.  
    Beside her, Doona gasped.   “What’s she doing here?” she whispered.
    Bessie studied the new arrival.   She was dressed in a black suit with a
long straight skirt.   A dark grey
shirt was just visible under the jacket.   Her low-heeled shoes were black.   Grey hair was twisted into a tight bun on the top of her head and her
grey eyes were cool and appraising as she approached them.
    “Ms. Moore,” the woman said.   “I would have thought you’d have found
more pleasant things to do with your day off than finding dead bodies.”
    Bessie could almost see Doona biting her
tongue.  
    “And you must be Miss Elizabeth Cubbon,” the
woman continued.   “Of course finding
bodies is nothing new for you, is it?   Inspector Rockwell has quite an extensive file on you, I must say.”
    Now Bessie found herself swallowing hard
before she said something she might regret later.
    “What have you found?” the woman snapped at
Hugh.
    “Exactly what was reported,” Hugh said.   “In the back of the barn there is a part
of a skeletal arm visible on the ground.   Not wanting to compromise the crime scene, I did no more than verify the
initial report.”
    “So we might have just found someone’s old
medical school training skeleton or an old movie prop or something,” the woman
said.
    No one spoke.   After a moment she sighed deeply.   “Let’s see what we have then.   Watterson, bring a torch.”
    As the pair disappeared into the barn,
Bessie let out a long breath.  
    “And now you’ve met Anna Lambert,” Doona
said quietly.
    “I thought she was meant to be handling the
paperwork while John did all of the investigating,” Bessie whispered.
    Doona shrugged.   “I’m not going to ask,” she said.
    “Me, either,” Bessie agreed.
    Hugh and the inspector were back a moment
later.  
    “Right, who found the, um, remains?” she
asked.
    “I did,” Fenella replied.
    “I’ll start by talking to you, then,” Anna
told her.   “Ms. Moore, Miss Cubbon,
if you’d like to wait here, please, I’ll get to you in a few minutes.”
    Bessie exchanged glances with Doona while
Anna led Fenella over to the police car.  
    “She’s going to interview people in her
car?” Bessie asked after the pair climbed into the backseat.
    “I suppose there aren’t a lot of options out
here,” Doona replied.
    Bessie looked around.   She could just make out another small
building in the distance.   Besides
that, fields surrounded them in every direction.
    “John’s tied up in Douglas at a meeting,”
Hugh whispered out of the side of his mouth, his eyes never leaving the car where
Anna had gone.
    “He didn’t tell me he was in Douglas when we
spoke,” Doona said.
    “I gather he’s going to try to get here
soon, but obviously this sort of investigation can’t wait,” Hugh said.
    “Whoever it is has waited a long time
already,” Doona